Call of Duty 3 is set in France, during the time of World War II. The player is part of the allied forces placing charges, firing mortars, driving jeeps, and killing Nazis. The player moves by using the movement of his own hands. The game also features online play, which allows you to choose the side of allies or axis and play on a team against opposing players.

While the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 versions support online headset, the PlayStation 3 does not support headset due to the game being rushed to be ported at the time and is ironic because the PS2 was released before the PlayStation 3. The Wii version does not support online play.